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Eye doctor’s constantly warn patients to remove contacts before sleeping. Many people ignore this advice and sleep in their lenses anyway.

Patrick Vollmer is an optometrist in Shelby, North Carolina. He recently treated a patient who developed a cultured pseudomonas ulcer after sleeping in his contacts.

“Pseudomonas (bacteria) is an important cause of ocular morbidity and its opportunistic characteristics quickly lead to permanent blindness,” he explained in a Facebook post on Sunday that has since gone viral with more than 300,000 shares. “The bacteria explosively eats away at the patients cornea in a matter of days leaving a soupy, white necrosis (dead tissue) in its wake.”

The bacteria leading to this infection can be found in the environment or in water. The CDC recommends removing lenses before swimming to the reduce the risk of infection from public swimming pools. The CDC also warns that sleeping in contacts increases the risk of corneal infection by 6-8 times.

The risks outweigh the convenience. Remove your lenses and store them in a sanitary case before swimming or sleeping. You may just save your vision from irreversible damage.

Think you might have an infection? Don’t wait! Call and schedule and eye appointment today.

Those of us who wear glasses know what a difference they can make to the way our faces look.

Some of our friends might even have trouble recognizing us without our glasses at first. Because our glasses have such a big effect on our appearance, it’s crucial to understand how to take advantage of that when we choose our frames.

The Shape Of Your Face

The shape of your face is a major factor in determining which glasses shape will be most flattering, and there tend to be four general face shapes:

Round faces are defined by full cheeks, rounded hair and jawlines, and being about as wide as they are long.

Oval faces are similar to round faces, but they are longer and less wide.

“Heart-shaped” faces have wide cheeks and forehead but a narrow chin, and they may be further emphasized by a widow’s peak hairline.

Square faces feature a strong jawline and forehead and are about the same width and length.

If you don’t know what your face shape is, an easy way to tell is to look in the mirror, close one eye, and draw the outline of your face on the mirror with a washable marker. The shape you draw should resemble one of the main four shapes more than the others, but if you still aren’t sure, we can help you out the next time we see you.

What To Consider When Choosing Your Frames

The key when choosing flattering frames is to look for shapes that will balance out your face shape. Round glasses on a round face will only emphasize the roundness, but a pair of rectangular frames will create a better effect. Inversely, round frames on a square face will help soften out the angles of the face.

Apart from shape, though, you also want to think about size. Even if they’re a good shape, glasses that are too small or too large still won’t be flattering. If your face is on the smaller side, stick with smaller glasses, and if your face is larger, you’ll look great in bigger glasses. This is something to think about as we get older, too. Kid glasses don’t look good on teens, and our old high school glasses won’t look as good the older we get!

Don’t Forget About Style!

Once you’ve taken size and shape into account, it’s time to think about your personal flair. That’s why we offer a wide variety of colors, materials, and patterns for you to choose from at our practice! If you need help choosing the perfect frames for you, just stop by and we can give you our recommendations.

We can’t wait to see how you look in your new glasses!

You’ve probably heard people talk about 20/20 vision, but what does it mean? Is it perfect vision? Can you have better than 20/20 vision? If your vision is 20/40 vision, is that better or worse than 20/20? I’d like to take a little bit of time to explain what this weird fraction means.

The first number in the fraction refers to the test distance vision is being tested at. Back in the 1860s, when this method of measuring vision was developed, 20 feet was determined to be the appropriate distance to place a chart to test distance vision. This distance was chosen, because accommodation, or focusing power, is not needed to make objects clear when they are at 20 feet or farther away in the normal eye. The bottom number of the fraction refers to the size of the smallest letter a person is able to see from this distance. For those that like math, the inverse of the fraction correlates to the minutes of arc the detail of the letter subtends.

For everyone else, you can think of the fraction like this. At 20 feet away, the ‘20’ letters can just barely be seen by a normal, healthy eye. As the letters of the chart get incrementally bigger, the numbers get incrementally bigger as well. So, if the smallest letter a person can see is the ‘40’ letter, the smallest letter they can see at 20 feet is the same size as the smallest letter a normal eye can see at 40 feet. This is designated as 20/40 vision. For a person with 20/100 vision, they can just barely see letters at 20 feet that the average eye can just barely see from 100 feet away. When the bottom number is smaller than the top number, it means the person can see better than the average eye. For example, 20/10 vision means a person can see at 20 feet what the average eye would have to be 10 feet from in order to see. This fraction is then referred to as a person’s visual acuity.

Here are some visual acuity milestones measured with this system (Snellen Acuity)

One in every four students will need some kind of vision correction. However, teens may feel self-conscious wearing glasses to school. Even if they have worn glasses for years, the teen years can be tough on the self-esteem and wearing glasses may increase this anxiety and make them feel less accepted. For this reason, contact lenses are a popular choice for teenagers.

How old do you need to be to wear contacts?

There is no age limit, but we typically recommend around 11 -14 years of age. The real issue is that of responsibility. Is your teenager ready to handle and care for for their contacts properly?

In truth, teenagers will often do a better job of cleaning their contacts than adults who have worm them for many years.

How much care do contacts require?

The answer depends on the lenses. Many can be easily cleaned with a multi-purpose solution and stored overnight in a contacts case. Others are single use and should be discarded after a day of wear.

Do contacts require a prescription?

Yes. The Food and Drug Administration considers contact lenses a medical device. In order to properly correct vision, a contact must fit properly on the eye. Lack of proper fit can lead to serious eye issues. As part of the fitting process, your eye doctor will measure your eye to insure that you get the proper size, shape, and power to correct your vision issue.

Are contacts more expensive?

The cost of contact lenses varies depending on brand and prescription. Your eye doctor can go over your options and recommend the best option for you.

Keep in mind that lenses are only part of the total cost. Cleaning solution and storage cases are an ongoing expense with contact lenses. Plus, it is always a good idea to have a backup pair of glasses.

What if a lens is lost or torn?

Be sure to discuss lenses replacement with your eye doctor. If your teen is going to wear disposable lenses than loss or damage is less of a concern. Simply insure that you have a supply of lenses on hand.

Are contact lenses safe?

Contact lenses are safe if worn properly. Your teen should never swap lenses with a friend or wear them for longer than prescribed. Doing so can introduce foreign bacteria to the eye and cause eye strain or damage.

What are the different types of contact lenses?

Contact lenses can be grouped together based on several characteristics:

Lens material — Soft, gas permeable (GP) or hybrid

Oxygen permeability — “Silicone hydrogel” lenses offer high levels of oxygen to your cornea, and are what most newer lenses are made from. “Hydrogel” lenses are mostly older technology and generally offer lower levels of oxygen.

Wear schedule — That is, whether you take them out before sleep. Certain lenses are FDA approved for extended (overnight) wear; daily wear lenses should be removed before sleeping or napping.

Replacement schedule, or how often you discard them and begin wearing a fresh pair. Daily disposable lenses are discarded every day and require no care, making them a hassle-free option for teens. Monthly and two-week replacement schedules are most popular.

How do I decide on the right lenses?

Your eye doctor can help you decide which combination of features is right for your teen. In addition to your teen’s preferences, the doctor will evaluate his or her eye structure, tears, and visual acuity to determine what lenses will be healthy and comfortable.

Need a Contact Lenses Prescription?

Nearly everyone over the age of 65 will experience a reduced elasticity of the lenses of their eyes — a condition called presbyopia.

Those of us lucky enough to have perfect vision until that age will only require reading glasses to help with up-close vision. However, for the 42 percent of Americans who are nearsighted to begin with, a more complex solution will be necessary, such as bifocals, trifocals, or progressive lenses.

Bifocals: Pros And Cons

Bifocals are just what they sound like: glasses with one area that corrects nearsightedness and another area that corrects farsightedness. The worse presbyopia gets, it can start to affect middle distances too, and trifocals help by adding a middle strip for things like reading a computer screen.

If you’ve ever worn bifocals or trifocals, you know all about the line between the sections of the lenses. These lines can be distracting and create an odd “image jump” effect, and they can also serve as evidence of advancing age to anyone who sees them. Anyone who feels these drawbacks are too great to overlook might be more interested in progressive lenses.

The Science Of Progressive Lenses

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, progressive lenses do what bifocals and trifocals do but without the distracting lines. The way this works is that the prescription gradually changes along a corridor of power, going from supporting distance vision at the top to close vision at the bottom.

The trade-off to make such a complex lens work is that the bottom corners of progressive lenses make things appear blurry. Fortunately, newer technology is helping to minimize this flaw. When we examine patients wishing to buy progressive lenses, we measure pupillary distance so that we can place the corridor of power in the best place.

Getting Used To Progressive Lenses

Any time we change the prescription or frame shape of our glasses, it will take some time to get used to the way things look. This is certainly the case for progressive lenses, especially if it’s your first time wearing them. A few things you can do to adjust more quickly include:

moving your head instead of your eyes to see different things

making sure the glasses fit properly so that the corridor of power stays in the right place

practicing looking at objects at different differences by watching TV and reading a book at the same time

not giving up! If you switch back and forth between your progressive lenses and your old bifocals, you’ll reset the clock on your eyes getting used to them!

A variety of vitamins and minerals are essential to eye health. Vitamin E, in particular, has been shown in studies to reduce the risk of Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) by 25%. This is significant for a vitamin that is affordable and easy to take. The study showed that 400IU was the recommended dosage to promote eye health. While this is a significantly higher dosage than the FDA recommended 4mg for men and 3mg for woman, taking less than 540 mg of Vitamin E a day should not be harmful. However, those with heart disease or diabetes should consult there doctor before taking vitamin E. We recommend that you talk to your eye doctor before starting a Vitamin E regimen.

Dietary carbohydrate and the progression of age-related macular degeneration: a prospective study from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study

Publication

Author(s)

Abstract

Background: Cross-sectional studies indicate that diets that provide a higher dietary glycemic index (dGI) are associated with a greater risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). No prospective studies have addressed this issue.

Objective: The objective was to prospectively evaluate the effect of baseline dGI on the progression of AMD.

Design: dGI was calculated as the weighted average of GIs from foods and was evaluated as being above or below the sex median (women: 77.9; men: 79.3) for 3977 participants aged 55– 80 y (58% women) in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study. The 7232 eligible eyes without advanced AMD were classified into 1 of 3 AMD cat- egories: group 1 (nonextensive small drusen), group 2 (intermediate drusen, extensive small drusen, or pigmentary abnormalities), or group 3 (large drusen or extensive intermediate drusen). With the use of multifailure Cox proportional-hazards regression, we modeled the time to the maximal progression to evaluate the relation between dGI and the risk of AMD.

Results: Overall, the multivariate-adjusted risk of progression over 8 y of follow-up (x: 5.4 y) was significantly higher (risk ratio: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.20; P = 0.047) in the high-dGI group than in the low-dGI group. The risk of progression for groups 1, 2, and 3 eyes was 5%, 8%, and 17% greater, respectively (P for trend < 0.001). The latter gives an estimate that 7.8% of new advanced AMD cases would be prevented in 5 y if people consumed the low-dGI diet. Conclusion: Persons at risk of AMD progression, especially those at high risk of advanced AMD, may benefit from consuming a smaller amount of refined carbohydrates.

Any of those sound familiar to you? It may be time to schedule an eye exam and be checked for
cataracts.
A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens inside your eye. When you are born, your lens is crystal clear. As
we age, the lens becomes cloudy. Most cataracts are caused by age-related changes, but exposure to
UV light, smoking and diabetes can put you at higher risk for developing them sooner. There is no way
to predict how quickly cataracts will progress. When I first learned about cataracts in optometry school
my professor told us “Everyone will get cataracts if they live long enough.” For some people it happens
at age 55. For others they don’t need the surgery until they are 95.
When cataracts are just forming, changing the prescription in glasses can be an effective treatment.
Adding anti-glare to the lenses can help with the symptoms the come with night driving. Using more or
brighter light when reading can also help the blurriness up close. The only treatment for significant
cataracts is a referral from your eye doctor for cataract surgery.

Dr. Katherine Marshall

Need to see an Eye Doctor?

Time to start thinking about sunglasses? Is it because imagining wearing sunglasses on a sunny beach makes us feel warmer in sub-zero temperatures? Partially, but more importantly, wearing sunglasses in the winter is just as important as wearing them in the summer. UV light from the sun can damage your eyes by causing cataracts to form and can even cause vision loss as UV light exposure can lead to macular degeneration. It’s easy to remember sunglasses when the sun is shining on an 80 degree day, but UV light is just as damaging when it’s -5 and we’re surrounded by snow. In fact, UV light can be even more intense in the winter than during the summer. Our normal surroundings generally reflect about 6% of the sun’s light. Snow, however, reflects 95% of the sun’s light. Anyone who’s braved the elements on a cold, sunny day has experienced how intense this reflection can be and likely reached for their sunglasses. But what about cloudy days? Do you really need to wear sunglasses when it’s been 5 days since you’ve seen the sun? The UV index may not be as intense, but it isn’t zero. Today, the UV index in Three Rivers is very close to what the UV index in Miami was yesterday.

Sunglasses will protect your eyes from more than just sun. The wind can damage your eyes by causing irritation, dryness, and even permanent damage like a pterygium. Also, a blast of snow to the face when the wind changes direction makes it pretty hard to see where the snow blower is going. Wearing a pair of sunglasses when you’re outside in the cold this weekend-even it’s for a brief driveway cleaning-will protect your eyes from UV and wind exposure. They might even make it easier to imagine that warm, sunny beach while your shoveling.

Dr. Andrew Bolles

Need to see an Eye Doctor?

The American Optometric Association’s (AOA) 2016 American Eye-Q® survey revealed that 88 percent of Americans know that digital devices can negatively affect their vision, but the average American still spends seven or more hours per day looking at their screens. This overexposure to blue light – high-energy visible light emitted from digital devices – can lead to digital eye strain, sleep problems, blurred vision, headaches and neck and shoulder pain, among other things. The AOA survey also indicates that the average millennial spends nine hours per day on devices such as smartphones, tablets, LED monitors and flat-screen TVs which also emit blue light.

The following tips explore ways people can protect their eyes and monitor digital screen usage while at home or work:

Power down before you turn in: Turn your digital devices off at least one hour before bed.

Unplug with the AOA 20-20-20 rule: When you are using any device or computer, make a conscious effort every day to take a 20-second break and look away from the screen, every 20 minutes and view something 20 feet away.

Step back: Maintain a comfortable working distance from your digital device by using the zoom feature to see small print and details, rather than bringing the device closer to your eyes.

Adjust your device to fit your needs: The AOA recommends reducing the glare by adjusting device settings or using a glare filter to decrease the amount of blue light reflected from the screen.